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Original Message
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| Final Success with the FE |
| By John - 07/27/2004 11:27:16 PM; IP 142.177.114.68 |
| OK, after quite a few years of minor (and a few major) troubles, I am finally happy with my 428. So I thought I'd share a few thoughts on it. First of all, I'd say the 0.0025" highly recommended bearing clearances are too much. You just can't get good idle pressure when hot with this much clearance. A high volume pump is the way to go, but not a high pressure (got 150 psi with one of those...ridiculous). Mobil 1 15W50 works great, but use mineral oil till after break-in. After dismantling several "good" oil pumps, I found the solution. I replaced the press-in plug in the oil pressure relief spring hole with a fine thread unit, and adjusted max oil pressure on the workbench for 85 psi. Better than keep on removing and re-installing the pan, especially with a windage tray and two gaskets. Alternatively, the Melling pump sold under the Blue Wolverine label seemed to be set appropriately.....heaven knows why.....could be a unique situation. I use a solid lifter cam and did all the oiling mods. I did find that my engine always smoked UNTIL I used a set of "single oiling hole" rocker shafts (Harland-Sharpe). Problem gone. I used all Crane valve gear from cam to lifters to pushrods to adj rockers to springs and retainers and caps. Works great. I use one of those much maligned Offenhauser single plane aluminum 2X4 intakes, and I have more power than I can ever use. Mallory Distributors are defective in the sloppiness of the fit of the gear to the shaft. It can be cured, but best stick with a Ford unit. FPP makes great stuff and I like their rocker supports, but terrible to deal with. Oil seeping out around the distributor hole can be resolved by making a paper gasket that fits around the dist groove, and therebye shims the "semi-square" o-ring to a better fit. Always use a heavy-duty aftermarket oil pump drive. Pick a cam to match your Compression ratio. I used FPP 9.5:1 pistons and a Crane cam to match. Awesome performance. Having the crank balanced, may or may not affect performance at high RPM, but it sure does give a nice idle, even with a performance cam. If you want to use rubber valve cover gaskets, use gasket shellac.....the tarry stuff the colour of molasses. Even then, once the engine heats up, you may have leaks. These engines don't drain oil from the heads well, and can suck the sump dry when the oil is cold and thick. I went to an Aviad 9 qt pan and the problem went away. OK, now there is a whole bunch of thoughts, facts and opinions....obviously in no rational order.....LOL. Any questions, and I'd be glad to answer them. |
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